William l



No Model.)

W. L. McKELVEY.

TOWEL RACK.

Patented Mar. 9, 1886.

Unites STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. MOKELVEY, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN MEGOWN, OF SAME PLACE.

TOWEL-RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,604, dated March 9.1886.

Application filed April 11, 1885.

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM L. MoKEL- VEY. a citizen of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Towel Backs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is directed to improvements in towel or clothes racks for laundry, kitchen,

or bed-chamber use, whether for the mere hanging or for drying.

I am aware that something similar to what I have invented has been patented, and that the object of the patentee was in efifect my own purpose; but I declare that my construction is not only different, but that it has important advantages.

My holding -bracket, which is screwed to the wall or other surface, is a single casting,

and therein I form openings so shaped that they not only form lateral stops to the rods, but form seatlocks for the balls of the rods in their horizontal portions, as will be understood from the state of the art and an examination of the accompanying drawings and following description.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of a towelrack embracing my improvements as attached to a wall; 0 Fig. 2, a vertical section of the sa1d rack as attached to a wall; Figs. 3 and 4, views of the casting proper; and Fig. 5, an elevation of the rack as attached to a wall, showing the suspending-rods out of acting position,

5 and as hanging down.

The rack is made as follows, reference being had to the drawings, wherein A is a single casting, having an car, a, with holes 12 b for the fasteningscrews, and the said cast- 0 ing, being of single shell shape, as the drawings show, has one, three, or more openings, 0 c c, which are for the reception of thetowelrods (1 d d, and these openings are so made that their vertical portions sustain the said 5 rods against lateral movement, while by reason of the circular shape of their top portions, 0 c 0, form lock-seats for the balls e e e of the rods-that is to say, the balls seat themselves within the lock-seats so formed by the 0 shape of the said bracketcasting and its circular openings in such manner as that their ends or balls are held in locked, position, and

Serial No. 161.894. (No model.)

the rods themselves are held so as to be kept in true radial relation to the said casting.

The rods are preferably made of galvan- 5 ized iron wire, and they are nicked at their ends to receive molded on whitemetal balls 6, and the completion of the manufacture of the article is effected by first inserting the arms in the openings and then afterward 6c molding on the balls in a manner well understood in the art.

That the arms are designed to hang down against the wall when not in use is understood, and their manner of locking and the 6 construction otbracket whereby they are held in horizontal position for use are clearly set forth in the above description.

The halls are of a greater diameter than that of the area of the circular lock -seats in 7( the openings of the bracket-casting; but said diameter must be such as to give the ball a good seat-lock within the opening. so that the arms are held at their ends when in use from lateral movement by the function of the cir- 73 cnlar top openings, and thereby permit the placing and the removing of towels and childrens clothes without requiring care to separately adjust the arms to keep them apart, for, when turned into horizontal positions, the 8( balls necessarily seek their lock-seats in the circular openings, and the arms require no separating adjustment, which would be necessary without the lock-seats for t-he end balls.

I do not claim, broadly, a metallic bracket- 8 plate having slot-openings for confining rods having end knobs for holding them in place in horizontal or in vertical positions, the said bracket-plate being in sections and having a seat common to all the knobs of the several 9 ends.

The casting A, of a single piece having the independent circular open seats opening into the vertical slots, combined with the rods 9 having the attachable balls fitting into the said independent seats, whereby to hold the rods in radial relation, as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing I witnesses.

Witnesses: Wlhl. All L. MGKELVEY.

M. J. MGGOWN,

M. E. MAoDoNALD. 

